Moscow: Russian president Vladimir Putin announced an Easter truce with Ukraine on Saturday. This starts from Saturday evening and ends on Sunday midnight. This comes amid a US proposal to ease sanctions against Russia if it takes steps to de-escalate the conflict.
“Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin said in a televised statement, while speaking to Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov, it was reported by AFP.
The Russian leader added that he assumed Ukraine would follow Russia’s example, but told Gerasimov to ready Russian troops to repel any violations of the truce by Kyiv.
In the televised meeting, the military chief is heard telling Putin that Russian troops have retaken over 99 percent of the territory seized by Ukraine in the Kursk region in an incursion launched in August.
“In the areas of the Kursk region where the Ukrainian armed forces mounted an incursion, the main part of the territory… is now liberated. That’s 1,260 square kilometres, 99.5 percent,” Gerasimov said in the meeting.
The US has reportedly offered to ease sanctions on Moscow in a plan presented to allies, to enable a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the plan also includes an outline of terms to end the fighting. The sanctions may be eased in the event of a lasting ceasefire.
The renewed push to end the war came even as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested on Friday that the Trump administration is prepared to “move on” from its peace efforts unless progress is made. US Vice President JD Vance, on the other hand, said in Rome on the same day that he was “optimistic” about the chances of bringing the war to a close.
